In the 1790s, the French, under a new post-revolutionary government, accused the United States of collaborating with the British and proceeded to impound Britain-bound US merchant ships. Attempts at diplomacy led to the 1797 XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War fought entirely at sea between the United States and France from 1798 to 1801.

Relations somewhat improved after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. American cultured classes embraced French styles and luxuries after the Civil War: Americans trained as architects in the École des Beaux-Arts, French haute cuisine reigned at elite American tables, and upper-class women in the US followed Parisian clothing fashions. Following World War I, a generation of rich American expatriates and bohemians settled in Paris. That, however, did not help with the populist image of a liberal elite of American francophiles.

French historian Justin Vaïsse has proposed that an important cause of public hostility in the US is the small number of Americans of direct or recent French descent.[3][4] Most Americans of French descent are descended from 17th and 18th century colonists who settled in Quebec, Acadia, or Louisiana before migrating to the United States or being incorporated into American territories. French Americans of colonial era Huguenot descent, French Protestant emigrants, have often ceased identification with France.

The rout of British and French forces at the Battle of Dunkirk in May/June 1940 against Nazi German forces came as a profound shock to Francophilic Americans.

As in Operation Torch, neither French resistance forces nor the opposing French Vichy authorities were easy to handle. The Allies succeeded in slipping French General Henri Giraud out of Vichy France and offered him the command of Free French forces in North Africa. Giraud, however, insisted on being nominated commander-in-chief of all the invading forces, which was reserved for General Dwight Eisenhower, and Giraud remained a mere spectator. General George Patton saying he "would rather have a German division in front... than a French one behind" him is often cited, but confirmation is problematic, as the quote appeared much later. Also, Patton was a Francophile and even spoke French.[citation needed]

The 112 Gripes about the French was a 1945 handbook, which has been often reprinted.[5] It was issued by the United States military authorities to defuse growing tension between the US military and the locals. The euphoria of victory over Germany was short-lived, and within months of Liberation, tensions began to rise between the French and the US military personnel stationed in the country.

Relations worsened even more when French President Charles de Gaulle emphasized France's role as an independent power, in part by removing France from the joint military structure of NATO in 1966 and by vetoing Britain's entry into the EEC in 1961. De Gaulle's support for Quebec independence, as exemplified by his Vive le Québec libre speech in 1967, annoyed the Canadian, British and American governments.[6]

In 1966, as part of the military withdrawal from NATO, de Gaulle ordered all American soldiers to leave French soil. US President Lyndon Johnson asked US Secretary of State Dean Rusk to seek further clarification from de Gaulle by asking whether the bodies of buried American soldiers must leave France as well.[7] Rusk recorded in his autobiography that de Gaulle did not respond when asked, "Does your order include the bodies of American soldiers in France's cemeteries?"[8][9]

The term Eurafrique refers to the (important) idea of strategic partnership between Africa and Europe, and the conspiracy theory Eurabia refers to a putative French/Arab cabal to Islamize Europe. The Suez Crisis of 1956 marked a watershed for Israeli-French relations.[10][11] Israel, France, and the United Kingdom allied for control of the Suez Canal but then were forced to withdraw by the United States and the Soviet Union.[10][12]
While France had previously been the main supporter of Israel, the United States took over its current role as ally of Israel with the Six-Day War in 1967.[13]
This diplomatic development impaired French-US relations, as France was increasingly seen[by whom?] as an outdated and aggressive neocolonial power.

Osirak was a light-water reactor program in Iraq, derived primarily from French technology. In 1981 an attack by the Israeli Air Force destroyed the Osirak installation. The participation of the French government in the program worsened US-French relations for years to come.

However, anti-French sentiment returned to the fore in the wake of France's refusal to support US proposals in the UN Security Council for military action to invade Iraq. While other nations also opposed the US proposals (notably Russia; China; and traditional US allies, such as Germany, Canada, and Belgium), France received particularly ferocious criticism.[14]